In the News

“I think they are setting up test cases.” Professor David Driesen on the “Unitary Executive” Theory

University Professor David Driesen discussed the “unitary executive” theory with ABC News.

In the article “Trump and the ‘unitary executive’: The presidential power theory driving his 2nd term”, Driesen says “I think they are setting up test cases, and this Supreme Court is very likely to expand the theory and overrule other cases that are in tension with it.”

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses the Possibility of the Attorney General Overturning President Trump’s Conviction

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Newsweek for the story “Can Pam Bondi Reverse Donald Trump’s Conviction? Experts Weigh In”.

“She [Attorney General Pam Bondi] has no power over the state courts. She can try to investigate and harass the D.A. and the judge maybe, although I don’t think the courts will put up with political interference,” said Germain.

Professor Jared Landaw Comments on Board Succession Planning at Agenda

Adjunct Professor Jared Landaw recently spoke with Agenda for the article “Activists Increasingly Seek the ‘Head of the King’” which discussed trends in how public company boards address shareholder activism and its impact on succession planning.

On succession planning, Landaw says boards should approach CEO succession “like the general manager of a sports team seeking to build a championship-caliber franchise. Rather than filling vacancies on an ad hoc basis, they must plan ahead, have a keen understanding of the skills and experiences required to meet the company’s evolving needs, and have the gumption to replace CEOs and directors who are no longer the best fit.”

The article, which may be behind a paywall, can be found at Agenda – Activists Increasingly Seek the ‘Head of the King’.

Professor Jack Graves Discusses the Trump Administration’s Crypto Enforcement and  Memecoins with Bloomberg Law

Professor Jack Graves spoke with Bloomberg Law about the Trump administration’s stance on memecoins and the change in the approach to crypto enforcement from the Biden administration.

“I think there was a logic to it— [former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary] Gensler didn’t want to get caught up in trying to regulate, didn’t want to get caught up on political question doctrine,” he said.

“An insurance policy” Professor Emeritus William C. Banks on Washington State Legislation to Block National Guard from Entering Their State

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks spoke with Stateline for the article “Blue states fear invasion by red-state National Guard troops for deportations.” Banks discussed current federal laws and how Washington State’s proposed legislation might be redundant.

“It’s like an insurance policy,” he said of the bill. “It may be a very good idea to call attention to the independence of the state government and its perspective that they’d very much like to be in charge of their own internal affairs, including migration or whatever else might be going on.”

Banks said the measure, if passed as expected, could be something that state leaders point to if, for example, Idaho or Montana were considering deploying their National Guard units to Seattle to carry out Trump’s immigration enforcement.

However, he said, the whole discussion becomes irrelevant the moment Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which would allow for federal military intervention in a nonconsenting state.

Professor Robert Nassau Says “Earned Income Tax Credit Can be Confusing”

Professor Robert Nassau, Director of the Sherman F. Levey ’57, L’59 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, recently spoke with CNBC for a story on the earned income tax credit (EITC.)

He noted that the EITC “can be confusing. Some eligible taxpayers missing the EITC could be lower earners without a filing requirement”. But the EITC is “refundable,” meaning you can still claim a refund even without tax liability.

Professor Shubha Ghosh Discusses U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup’s Willingness to Learn About AI Technology Before Hearing AI and Copyrights Case

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh spoke with Bloomberg Tax for the article “In the Battle of AI and Copyrights, a Judge Seeks a Tech Lesson”. U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup will be hearing Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, a case to determine whether Anthropic PBC violated copyright law by training its AI chatbot Claude on copyrighted books without the authors’ permission. Judge Alsup requested the parties provide him with an overview of how generative AI works.

Ghosh, director of the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute, says “Ultimately, judges need to understand the underlying facts. The opposite extreme is: ‘I don’t really care what the world is like, here is the law.’”

Professor Gregory Germain on President Trump’s Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship “Will Have to Focus on the Second Phrase of the 14th Amendment”

Professor Gregory Germain discussed President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship with Newsweek.

Germain said that Trump will have to focus on the second phrase of the 14th Amendment, arguing that children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

“That seems like a question that will ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Trump can argue that the phrase about being ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ must have meaning, and should be read as a limitation on birthright citizenship,” he said.

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses the Possible Return of Recently Pardoned Silk Road Founder’s Cryptocurrency

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Newsweek in the wake of Silk Road website Founder Ross Ulbricht being pardoned by President Trump. At question is if Ulbricht could regain cryptocurrency, now valued at $18 billion, that was seized in the case against his website.

“The law currently says that a pardon does not erase the fact that a person was convicted, nor does a pardon affect civil liability to an individual or to the government,” Germain said.

“It only affects the government’s ability to impose or continue a criminal punishment.”

Professor Shubha Ghosh Discusses the Latest on the Tik Tok Ban

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh spoke with The Hill for the story “Trump, GOP China hawks at odds over TikTok ban.”

The divest-or-ban law, passed by Congress in 2024 and recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, gave TikTok’s parent company Bytedance until January 19, 2025, to divest. The law also allowed the president to issue a 90-day extension if the company is making progress toward a divestiture. It’s unclear if President Trump’s executive order uses that clause.

“The statute itself does allow him to stay [the ban] or to give an extension. And if he’s working within that, then it certainly would be legal for him to do, as long as he’s within his parameters,” said Ghosh.

He earlier spoke with KAAL-TV about Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that weighed national security apprehensions versus First Amendment freedom of speech concerns. “If manipulation is a justification for what Congress does and that overcomes you know first amendment concerns, then maybe Congress has been given more authority to go after not only foreign manipulation, but also domestic manipulation,” said Ghosh.

His comments are at 1:01 and 1:20 of the news story.